Safeguarding against aerial attacks



Oct. 27,1925. 1,558,713

J. A. STEINMEII'Z SAFEGUARDING AGAINST AERIAL ATTACKS Filed Nov. 5, 1923 was Patente'd Oct. 27, 1925.

UNITED STATES JOSEPH A. ,sirnmmarz, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

SAFEGUARDING AGAINST AERI AL ATTACKS.

- Application filed November 3, 1923. Serial No. 672,539.

To all whom it my concern:

Be it known. t at I, JOSEPH A. STEINMETZ, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safeguarding Against Aerial Attacks, of

which the following is a specification, refergnce being had therein to the accompanying raWing;

It is said by high authorities that it is now quite possible .to destroy cities, land defenses, 1nassed bodies of men, water-borne ships, etc., by dropping from aircraft single enormous masses, or multiple smaller masses, of very high explosives, provided that there is at t e moment", at or near the point of at- .tack no means of defense nor for barring such attack. It is further said by such anthorities that, so far, only opposing aircraft can afford any adequate defense, since attacking aircraft can select any of countless points, deliver a blow and escape before aid can be summoned. It is obviously impracticable to provide at every vulnerable point of a large region,, ordinary devices capable of overcoming suddenly-attacking aircraft, for the cost of suchprovision is prohibitive, especially ,whenthe number. of

p as" men-is considered.

' The object of this invention is to obtain at relatively small cost a fair degree of securityagainst such attacks as have just been suggested. a

In general terms, the method involved consists in barring attacking craft from regions where they might drop destructive airship and a scant p versely at a greaterlieight.

Fig. 2 indicates the deflection of the bomb- -ca-rrying parachute cableby attacking air- "crafti- In these drawings A designates the more or less. distant attacking craft, which may.

bombing.];;plane?, B a small, highd"sco'ut plane at a greater elevation, carg ies of primarily folded parathe accompanying diagrammatic draw ane' moving trans tchutes C, each to be released at will, in any well-known way, by an operator carried by the plan, and each havlng attached 'by a cable D, of predetermined length, a contact bomb or-other destructive device E.

Should any transversely moving aircraft strike such a cable, the bomb would be quickly drawn, against the contacting por- .tion of, the aircraft andthe latter would probably be destroyed by such contact. The cables are invisible in poor light and visible at no great distance in any light, and entirely invisible at night as are the bombs and parachutes, practically.

Qne or more scout planes may ascend at some distance from the region to be pro tected and on the side'from which the attack comes, or is expected, and while moving transversely with respect to the line of attack and above the plane of attack, free at intervals bomb-carrying parachutes. By, this means a sort of screen is provided through which any attacking craft can hardly pass safely to reach any point from which it can efi'ectively drop bombs of the highly destructive nature above mentioned.

Preferably, when necessit arises, danger ,signals will be givenfand to nearest scout plane, or planes, will rise and spread the curtain above mentioned, 'while aid is coming from points within signalling distance.

It may be noted that the bombing planecarrying heavy masses of explosive is necessarily large and incapable of very high speed or of making quick ascents and turns, while the small scout planes move rapidly and rise or turn with relatively great rapidity, thereby having no difliculty in keeping in any desired position with respect to the slower and more -unwieldy machine.

The protection is of course only temporary, but the parachutes are li ht and of large diameter, descending slow y, the intrval being quite. suflicient, practically to 0 cover the time betore the bomber reaches the barrage. I J What I claim is:

1. The method of defending against aerial attack which consists in releasing at intervals from moving aircraft a series of parachutes each supporting far below a contact bomb by means of a cable transverse to both the direction and probable plane of attack to form a slowly descending barrage of aerial bombs.

2. The method of defending against aircraft attack which .consists in causing a a high-speedaeroplane to ascend to a suitable height while bearing a series ofbomb-carrying parachutes releasable at will, in succession, by an operator carried upon the aeroplane, and to move above the plane of attack transversely to'the direction of attack, releasing parachutes'atintervals, each bomb being supported from its parachute by a cable of adjustable length to form a slowly descending barrage of aerial bombs.

3. The method of defending a given area against the dropping of explosive masses from aircraft, which consists in barring such aircraft from the region immediately above said area by dropping from a line alongside said area and a ove the plane of attack a spacedseries of contact bombs supported by corresponding parachutes to form a slowly descending barrage ofaerial bombs.

4. The method of defendinfia givenlocality against attack by aircra entering the region above such locality and dropping carryin highly explosive masses, which consists in barring aircraft from said region by freeing at intervals alongside that region and above the horizontal lane of attack, a spaced series of highly e tructive bodies effective through contact nd suspended. by small cables from a corresponding series of parachilt es .to form a slowly descending barrage of aerial bombs.

5. The method of defending aga'instae rial attack by means of a barrage of slowly descendin aerial bombs which consists of by aircraftto an elevation above the to able plane of attack and there releasing a series of bomb carrying parachutes, in a direction transverse to the di rection of attack, each of said bombs being supported from its parachute by'a cable of adjustable length.

Intestimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature.

JosEriI A. STEINMETZ. 

